Zookeepers Working to Help Orangutan Stop Smoking

on: July 06, 2012

Zookeepers Working to Help Orangutan Stop Smoking. Source:AP

Tori is by far one of the best known primates around the world due to her terrible habit of smoking cigarettes but now, approximately 10 years after she started this bad habit, Tori is finally going to kick it. Tori has been smoking for almost 10 years as zoo visitors would throw cigarette butts and eventually entire cigarettes into the habitat where she lives.

Now that Tori is getting older the zookeepers are finally going to help her kick the habit, although they’re not exactly sure how successful they will be. By moving Tori to a secluded island habitat the zookeepers are hopeful that Tori will completely forget her desire to smoke and once again become a healthy and lively primate.

It is not terribly uncommon for orangutans in zoos to start smoking when given the opportunity, but many are hopeful that this type of environment change might make Tori kick the habit. This is truly an incredible endeavor to undertake and will definitely be watched by millions around the world. Hopefully someday the world famous smoking orangutan will stop smoking for good and be able to live a healthy and happy life. It may hurt the number of visitors to the zoo according to some analysts, but zookeepers say that the lives of their animals are significantly more important.